St. Paul's Church in the Town of Eastchester v. Mount Vernon Suburban Land Co. (119 A.D. 45, 1907)

Rich, J.:

It is undisputed that this action was commenced 'on March 8, 1894, arid issue joined by the seiwice of an amended answer on March 6, 1895, since which time no effort has been made by the plaintiff to bring the issues to trial until after the service of notice of the defendant’s motion. These facts established & prima facie case of unreasonable neglect, and threw the burden of excusing such neglect upon the plaintiff. . (Seymour v. Lake Shore & M. S. R. Co., 12 App. Div. 300; McMann v. Brown, 92 id. 249; Fisher Malting Co. v. Brown, Id. 251; Zafarano v. Baird, 80 id. 144.) The only explanation. of this long delay of more than eleven years is found in the affidavit of the plaintiffs attorney, in these words “ After the action was .commenced, as